connolly



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

M. D. & T. A. CONNOLLYQ TILTING 0R ROCKING CHAIR.

N0. 354,042. r, Patented Dec. '7, 1886.

, WITNESSES: '[NVE/VTORS,

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 M. D. & T. A. OONNOLLY.

TIL'TINGYOR ROCKING CHAIR.

No. 354,042. 9 Patented Dec. 7, 1886.

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iJNrTEn STATES M. DANIEL CONNOLLY, OF PHiLADELPHIA, PA., AND THOMAS A.OONNOLLY, OF WASHINGTON, D. (1, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THEROCKER SPRING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILL.

TlLTiNG OR ROCKING CHAIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.35,042, dated December7, 1 86.

Application filed July 30, 1880. Serial No. 14,470.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, M. DANIEL COXNOLLY and Trioinxs A. OONXOLLY,citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at the city ofPhiladelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania,and at the city of \Vashington, in the District of Columbia, havejointlyinvented new and useful Improvernents in Tilting or Rocking Chairs, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being bad to theaccompanying drawings, wherein Figures 1 and 2 are side elevations of achair constructed according toourinvention. Figs. 3 and 4 areperspective views of the upper and lower rockers, respectively. Figs. 5andG are side views, partly in elevation and partly in section, of partsembodying our improvement. Figs. 7, 9,10, and 14 are viewsinsectionillustrating modifications. Figs. 8 to 15 are perspective viewsof modifications. Fig. 11, 12, and 13 are views in elevation showingmodifications.

In the accompanying drawings, A indicates a chair seat, and B a base, ofthe usual or any suitable construction, for a revolving chair. Such baseordinarily consists of four legs, I) b b b, fastened in a central nut,B.

O is a spindle, which turns in the nut B, and is preferably, but notnecessarily, threaded, so as to secu re vertical adj ustment for thechair-seat.

D isaspider, consisting of four arms, dd dd, united by a center, (1,said spider consisting usually of a casting.

E and F are rockers attached, respectively, to the head or top of thespindle Oand to the spider D; or the rocker F may, by preference, beintegralwith the spider, being cast therewith. The rocker F ispreferably formed with a central boss, e, in which the end of thespindle Ois rigidly secured by plugging or equivalent means, and theupper-rocker, E, may be secured to the spider D in a similar man ner orby bolting the parts together. These rockers are of cylindrical boxform, with front and back curved, or other projections or arms, 6 e ffterminating in shoulders e ef f,

(N0 model.)

which serve as stops to limit the movement of the chair-seat in rocking.The two front stops,

6' 6, come together when the chair-seat is horizontal, or preferablybefore the seat reaches a horizontal position, so that the normalposition of said seat will be slightly inclined downwardly toward therear. The edges of the boxes form the rockers and are curvedreverselyt'. 6., both of the upper boxes from a center above, and boththe lower from a center below, their line or point of contact. Suchcurves preferably describe segments drawn from a center in the base orend of the boxes, 5 so that the line of contact and extremity ofmovement of said boxes shall be about or in the middle of a springuniting the latter.

G represents the spring, which is preferably arranged with its axisvertical, its ends being at- 6 tached, respectively, to therocker-boxes, the curved edges of the latter being in contact. Thespring may be securedto therocker-boxes in any suitable manner-as forinstance, by bending its ends 9 on opposite sides of the samediametrical line, then passing them through holes in the ends of therocker-boxes and securing them by nuts g on the outside; or clamps orclips h h, as shown in Figs. 10 and 14, may be employed, the ends of thesprings not then requiring to be bent; or the castings E and F may haveopenings or sockets i, as shown in Fig. 8, into which the respectiveends of the spring may be passed, and secured by means of nuts, keys,gibs, or equivalent 8o retaining devices.

\Vhen the chair-seat is tilted or depressec in the rear, the upperrocker will roll upon the lower and the spring will bend, its coilsopening slightly in front and correspondingly U5 approaching in therear, the motion thus produced being an actual rocking motion upon achanging fulcrum, difi'ering wholly from the mot-ion of ordinarytilting-chairs, in which the movement is upon a pivot, forming a fulcrumof fixed position. The backward rock is resisted by the tendency of thespring to retain its normal position and the forward motion is assistedby the same tendency, the resultbeing a delightfully easy andcomfortable motion, unapproached by that of any tilting or oscillatingchair with which we are acquainted.

In some cases only one of the boxes may have a curved edge, the otherpresenting a straight or other line on its edge; but we prefer thedoublereverse curve already described, as this construction will allow agreater range of motion and an easier movement within a given space.

Due regard should be had to proper dimensions of the various parts, andwhile such dimensions maybe considerably varied and still preserveexcellent effects, we have obtained the best results with a springconsisting of five coils of one-halfinch tempered steel having aninternal or mandrel diameter of two and one-half inches, the boxes beingin proportion.

lo prevent bending or rubbing, the boxes should be of an internaldiameter a fraction the provision of cheek-pieces cast integral withsaid boxes.

Where the person occupying the chair sits squarely upon the seat, in theusual and appropriate manner, there is no liability on the part of thespring to open on either side, and

the rocking may be effected, preferably backward and forward,without anywabbling. If, however, through carelessness or a desire for an easy,irregular position or attitude, the weight be thrown to a considerableextent on one side, there is asli ght tendency, particularly with aheavy occupant of the seat, for the edges of the boxes to part slightlyon one side. To prevent this opening, one of the boxes-4t matters notwhich-may be provided with lugs on either side, which will move in slotson channels, or over or under shoulders in the other box, as shown inFigs. 7 and 9. These should be so formed, in order to prevent binding orfriction, that in the normal rocking there will be no contact betweensaid lugs and the edges of the slots or channels or faces of theshoulders. As soon, however, as the weight of the occupant of thechair-seat is thrown sufficiently to one side to produce a tendency toopen the spring on the side the lug on that side of the box will meetthe shoulder oredge of the slot or channel and arrest such tendency.

WVe have shown the rockers in several figures as being of cylindricaloutline; but this is by no means essential,(though it is perhaps themost symmetrical and compact form,) and the sides of the boxes may, ifdesired, be parallel or otherwise arranged. WVe have shown the spring asdirectly over the spindle and di- ,tion.

rectly under the center or union of the spider, and this arrangementshould in all cases be preserved; but as the leverage upon thespring isexerted from the rear of the seat, it is plain that such leverage willbe proportioned to the length of the arms of the spider; hence if therear arms of the latter be shorter than the forward arms the leveragerequired to rock the seat backwardly will be less than if thespider-arms were of uniform length, so that by shortening the rear armsslightly a proportionate reduction in the strength of the spring may bemade.

To limit the backward and forward motion of the spring, we have providedsteps, which are projections from the boxes. These stops may, ifdesired, be cushioned and provided with a set-screw or other means ofadjusting the extent of the backward and forward me- The stop forlimiting the backward motion is shown in the rear in Figs. 1, 2, &e.;but it may be in front, as shown in Fig. 15.

\Ve have described the boxes E and F as rocker-boxes; but it is obviousthat in a strict sense only one of them-i. e., the upperactually rocks,the other, or lower, being stationary; but in a liberal meaning of theterm both may be called rockers, as if both are alike,while one alonemoves,the other, by reason of its curvature, produces an effect uponsuch rocking movement.

Instead of making two boxes with curved edges meeting at the middle ofthe height of the spring, one of said boxes may be deeper than theother, so that their edge-line of normal contact will be either above orbelow a plane passing through the middle of the spring, or onerocker-box, either the upper or lower, may be employed, a plain base orcap being substituted for the other.

Some ofthe advantages of this improvement are:- First, a perfect rockingmotion is obtained for a revolving chair, something not hithertoachieved, so far as we are aware; second, a single metallic spring formsthe sole connection for ,a pair of rockers interposed between thespindle and the spider of a revolving chair, serving, therefore, to holdsuch rockers in their proper relative position, and by resisting therocking motion in one action and assisting it in the other producing aneasy, comfortable, and agreeable motion, closely resembling that of anold-fashioned rocking-chair, and wholly differentfrom the abruptjerk ofa pivoted tilting-chair and the swaying motion produced in a seatoscillating on long plate-springs; third, theseat being made permanentlyfast to the spider, and the center of motion or joint being below thespider and directly over the spindle, and hence out of the way, there isno danger of contact with the clothing or members of the occupant of thechair-seat, such as there is, for example, in the common forms oftilting chairs, where the jointis between the spider and the chair-seat,the latter turning on the former, hence parting from it in front whentilted and IIO coming down when closed upon a stop in line with thefront edge of the seat; fourth, the entire device forming the rockerconsisting of iron and steel, the work upon it may be completed in thefoundry and machine-shop, so

that the invention in a finished form may be' furnished to chair'makers,who have merely to screw the spider to the seat and fit legs to the nutto perfect its application to a chair; fifth, the peculiar arrangementof the spring permits it to be made of such dimensions and strength thatit will be impossible to break or strain it by any ordinary usage. andhence the durability of the device is secured.

\Ve have shown and described our improvements embodying a spring havingits longitudinal axis verticalt'. 0.. the pitch of its coils beingbetween two horizontal linesand this we consider in all cases the mostdesirable form of construction or arrangement; but in some cases thelongitudinal axis of the spring may be somewhat inclined from theperpendicular, so as to form a right angle with the plane of thechairseat, and it may even be horizontal.

In Fig. 14 we have shown the spring with itsaxis horizontal. In thismodification the swing or bending of the whole spring, which is securedby the arrangement first described, and which contributes largely to theease and attractiveness ofthe movement,is not attained, and the rockingbackward has the effect of uncoiling or of closing the end coils, andnot opening the coils on one side of the axis and compressing them onthe other.

XVhere the spring is arranged with its axis horizontal, if its coils beall in one direction its ends should he brought around so as to coincidewith a line drawn directly through the middle of the boxes from thefront to the rear stops. one end being fastened to the upper and theother to the lower box; butif, as it may. the spring have coils inreverse directions-i. 6., right and left coils-the middle of the springmay be secured to one of the boxes and the two ends to the other; or, asa substitute for the single spring with reverse coils, two springs,either end of each being attached to the respective boxes, may beemployed. Ve have shown and described stops both in front andrear tolimit the movement of the chairseat, and such we consider alwaysdesit-able; but, if preferred, either the front or rear stops may bedispensed with.

As the stops constitute an important feature of our invention in theirrelation to thespring and rockers, we deem it proper to suggest thatthey may be used even where the boxes are pivoted or otherwise coupledtogether than by means of a spring or springs. \Veregard such a use asthe adoption of our invention, and particularly so where the front stopsare employed, the spring being located either directly over or out ofline with the spindle.

it is obvious that our invention is not limited to the "location of thespring which connects the rockers directly in line with the spindle,although such an arrangement is unquestionably the most desirable, andthe only one from which the best results will follow.

In Fig. 12 we have shown an arrangement by which two springs of lighttension may be employed. These may be located within the rocker-boxes oron either side of a central upper rocker, or to an upper and a lowerrocker. The figure referred to shows thelower support as being a flatplate; but such is not required.

\Ve do not herein claim any special or partieular means for effectingthe rigid connection of the springs with the upper and lower por tionsof the chair, our invention being directed to the feature of applyingthe springs so that they will constitute the connection between theupperand lowerportions of achair, for holding the rockers and theirlower support in alignment and proper relative position, as pointed outin the claims.

\Vhat we claim as our invention is- 1. The combination, in a chair, of aseat having rockers secured to its under side, a base having a lowersupport for said rockers, and a spiral spring or springs rigidlyconnected to said parts, respectively, and constituting the connectionbetween the seat and base parts of the chair for holding the rockers andtheir lower support in alignment and proper relative position,substantiallyas described.

2. The combination, in a chair, of a seat having rockers secured to itsunder side, a base having a lower support for said rockers, and a spiralspring or springs rigidly connected to said parts, respectively, andlocated directly in the center of oscillation of the chair seat, andconstituting the connection between the seat and base parts of the chairfor holding the rockers and their lower support in alignment and properrelative position, substantially as described.

3. The combination, in a chair, of a seat having rockers secured to itsunder side, abase having a lower support for said rockers, a spiralspring or springs rigidly connected to said parts, respectively, andsuitable stops to limit the movement of the seat, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing we have hereto set our hands.

M. DANL. CONNOLLY. THOS. A. CONNOLLY.

Witnesses to signature of M. Danl. Connolly:

Crms. F. VAN HORN, SAML. J. VAN STAVOREN.

\Vitnesses to signature of Thos. A. Connolly:

V. CONNOLLY, A. A. CONNOLLY.

